Harry Potter stars 'should have rebelled'

Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have been praised for the way that they have handled growing up in the glare of the media spotlight. The sensible young actors appear, however, to have annoyed at least one of their co-stars on the Harry Potter films.

By Richard Eden

9:56PM BST 06 Jun 2009

Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy, jokes that the films would have benefitted if their young stars had been more rebellious. "The problem with Harry Potter is that there is so little controversy," he complained at the first night of Sister Act, the West End musical. "It would be so great for the press if one of them would go off the rails and end up in rehab, but they are, actually, just really sweet guys."

Isaacs, who turned 46 yesterday, said the young actors had no reason to worry about their careers after the film of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released in 2011.

"They can fall backwards on their mountains of cash," he said. "It doesn't matter. They're really talented and they've got each other as close friends, which is all that matters because no one else has been through the same thing.

"What is amazing about them is that they are still respectful and have humility and work ethic. I have met and sometimes worked with their American equivalents and they have none of those things.

"Daniel will potentially be a great director or producer. He's very interested in behind-the-camera work. Remember, they have spent more hours in front of the camera in the last decade than most people have in their entire career."